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July 31, 2022
Encore: What would this old German-American farmer say?
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To us, in our lapsed estate, resting, not advancing, resisting, not cooperating with the divine expansion, this growth comes by shocks. We cannot part with our friends. We cannot let our angels go. We do not see that they only go out that archangels may come in.
We are idolaters of the Old. We do not believe in the riches of the soul, in its proper eternity and omnipresence. We do not believe there is any force in to-day to rival or recreate that beautiful yesterday. We linger in the ruins of the old tent.
--R. E. Emerson (1803-1882), Essays, First Series, "Compensation" (1841)
Middlebrook, Augusta County, VA (near Charlottesville ). Population about 250. In my tribe you can live a long life if you don't drink too much or work at the wrong jobs. Working near here this week here I detoured to visit this grave, and this time found it without difficulty. This Daniel Hull (1768-1854) was my great-grandfather's great-grandfather, then a first generation German in the U.S. There is no picture of him; photographs were, however, taken of his children and all the next generations. I know some but not enough (85 years, what wonderful stories will never be told...) about this fellow, a farmer who was the last of my line to die in Virginia, shortly after the family changed the spelling from Hohl to the more English-like Hull. His son, also a Daniel, moved to the Ozarks where every one of these John Daniel Hull creatures afterwards were born since save me. I just know I owe him and need to promise him that every generation gets better as life in America becomes easier. Are we doing that? Is that happening? Or do we armor ourselves with conformity and settle for ordinary, even though we know it's not enough? Or, as Emerson would ask, are we happy to be "idolaters of the Old." What would this old German-American farmer say?
Original: April 14, 2015
Posted by JD Hull at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2022
Doing Rome.
“The comparisons between ancient Rome and present-day America are exciting and instructive.”
~ Dan Hull, 2013
“When in Rome, do as many Romans as you possibly can.”
~ Hugh Grant, 2013
Rome. I don't like working here--charitably put, work-life balance is totally out of balance in some regions of Italy--but I love being in Rome. You can walk in this city. You can frolic in it. You can play all day long in and around the The Forum and Palatine Hill, where antiquities are still being found. There's a guy with a shop at the Piazza Navona--2000 years ago the Piazza was a Roman circus (i.e., track) you can still see if you try--who sells me these unique old prints, beautifully framed, that I bought for my father in Cincinnati. I go to that shop on every trip. The Tiber River is still gorgeous and, like the Seine in Paris, steeped in history, and a bit melancholy and mysterious. Lots happened here--maybe too much--and it's as if the river can remember it all.
Pannini (1743): Ruins, Chiostre, Statue of Marc-Aurèle
In the West, our strongest ideas and institutions, including what became English law, were conceived or preserved by Rome. The increasingly-made comparisons between Rome and the U.S.--no, they are certainly not new--are still exciting and instructive. The Romans were competent if grandiose empire builders who borrowed their best ideas and forms from a previously dominant Greece, while America's cultural debt is chiefly to western Europe. Like Rome, America tended to overextend itself in all spheres. Like Rome, America was globally aggressive. (Other peoples resented it.) You get the idea.
But you can't see, experience and "do" Rome on one trip--same thing with New York, London or Paris--and you shouldn't try. Our advice: do several trips, and "live in it" each and every visit, taking small bites. And spend your trip with anyone but those from the same nation and culture as your own. If you go there with Americans, break out of that bubble. Politely say goodbye--and disappear into the streets on your own.
Original post: September 15, 2013
Posted by JD Hull at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2022
Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, London
Posted by JD Hull at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2022
World Famous, Soulful, Accurate 12 Rules of Client Service.
1. Represent only clients you 'like'.
2. The client is the main event.
3. Make sure everyone in your firm knows the client is the main event.
4. Deliver legal work that changes the way clients think about lawyers.
5. Over-communicate: bombard, copy and confirm.
6. When you work, you are marketing.
7. Know the client.
8. Think like the client--help control costs.
9. Be there for clients--24/7.
10. Be accurate, thorough and timely--but not perfect.
11. Treat each co-worker like he or she is your best client.
12. Have fun.
Copyright 2005-2022 J. Daniel Hull.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
Master Coach. North Star. Exalted Teacher. Consigliere.: The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Yes, "read the rule..." The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are remarkable and, well, amazing. They vibrate, hum and glow with the hard work of the few who have worked on them over the years. In your first year. Tenth year. Twentieth year. Fortieth year of practice. They are shorter and better (i.e., much easier to grasp) than any non-FRCP-based state counterparts. There are flaws and ambiguities--but precious few. You notice something different every time. You never take them for granted. Look. At. Them. Every. Time. Read the Advisory Committee Notes, too. They, too, are to the point--and lean. Start with the Rule. Read the Note. And Onward.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2022
Folkways of The Slackoisie
Admitting Mistakes at Work in 2019
Boomers: “No errors occurred.”
GenX: “It is what it is, Man. Shit happens.”
Millennials: “It’s Brittany’s fault. I’m calling HR, too.”
Posted by JD Hull at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
36 years. Period. Full stop.
Today July 12 is the 36th anniversary of my drink. It was at Kelly’s Irish Times on F Street.
Thank you Penny Hull, Valerie, Fritz, Larry, Bud and Rozann. Dad, I’m sorry I wrecked three cars. OK, four, arguably. Mom, you helped most, even though you washed my bong in the Kenmore for two summers.
No one is luckier than me. No one. I mean that.
I had the family. I had the friends.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2022
Statesboro Blues: "Daddy died and left me wild...".
Mother died and left me reckless,
Daddy died and left me wild.
No, I'm not good lookin',
I'm some sweet woman's angel child.--William Samuel McTier (1898–1959)
Posted by JD Hull at 03:09 AM | Comments (0)
July 04, 2022
Americans are Born Outlaws.
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Posted by JD Hull at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2022
July 3, 1913
Survivors of Pickett's Charge walk the field their comrades fell upon. Gettysburg 50th anniversary, July 3, 1913.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2022
House Committee on J6: Shame on you folks.
The House select committee on J6 has outdone Tailgunner Joe McCarthy at his worst. Some media thinks it’s not a shameful circus and show for the midterms. What happen to the old non-activist journalism? This is pure shilling. This is dangerous and sad. This “record”? Mainly smears, misrepresentations and lies. The ruination of lives with a cavalier disregard for the truth. Are there any liberal Dems in Congress? The committee’s work is leftist propaganda by older Dem MOCs and trusting GenY aides and support staff who actually think they’re “liberal.”
Posted by JD Hull at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)
July 2: Chicago Girl Gets Her Start
Posted by JD Hull at 05:40 PM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2022
Thanks you 2.
Happy 72nd, you two kids. You were both broke, average students, and willing. Thank you for the constant caring, the time, putting up with me, the work ethic, the grace, the example. And of course the movie star looks genes.
Posted by JD Hull at 06:46 AM | Comments (0)